Q&A: Firefighter shocked when baby is left with him

SUNDAY CONVERSATION

MELANIE MARKLEY, Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

Published
6:30 am CST, Sunday, March 6, 2005

Firefighter Leonard Manos has worked seven years for the Houston Fire Department and has fought countless fires and handled many other emergencies.Even for this seasoned veteran, Tuesday's events caught him completely off guard. Manos was on duty atStation 46, 3902 Corder,that morning when a woman approached him with a car seat carrying a 1-month-oldgirl. The woman left the baby with Manos and then drove off. Chronicle reporter Melanie Markley talked with him about his experience.

Q: What did you think when the woman drove off, leaving you with the baby?

A: I was kind of surprised, shocked. You know, that is something that has never happened before since I've been at the fire station. In this line of work, you see a lot of things, and you say, 'Nothing can top this.' But as your career goes on, you always find something that tops it.

Q: Had you ever held an infant before?

A: Yes, I have two kids, so I have held infants before. I have a son that's 2 and one that's 8.

Q: If it happened again, would you do anything differently?

A: Probably, no. I would try to do just like I did. I may try to talk her to come back and sit down with the crew at the station. Maybe we could talk her out of it and get some help for her. If we could help her out with a problem, and we love to do it, that would have been great.

Q: Did you know of the Baby Moses law that shields the woman from prosecution for leaving the baby at the fire house?

A: Yes, we were very current on that law that if they want to drop a baby off at a fire station, police station or hospital, they can without getting in trouble. And that is something you'd rather see than a child wind up behind a Dumpster or in a field and someone finds the baby later on in worse condition.

Q: Last month, a firefighter from your station, Grady Burke, died fighting a fire. Now the spotlight is on the fire house again because of the baby. What's the mood of your colleagues?

A: The mood of my colleagues is that everybody was saying this happening this week was on a positive note and it brings a little uplift. But it's always hard when you lose a guy of that caliber from your station.